BOSTON – The Minnesota Whitecaps are one win away from winning their second Isobel Cup.
On Friday night, they routed the Connecticut Whale 7-0 in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) semifinals as Audra Richards had a hat trick and Allie Thunstrom had two goals and Amanda Leville made 44 saves for the shutout.
The Whitecaps will meet the Boston Pride at 6 p.m. Saturday in the championship game. Minnesota won its first league title in 2019.
Against the Whale, the Whitecaps led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Haylea Schmid at 6 minutes, 26 seconds and Allie Thunstrom about six minutes later.
That lead mushroomed to 5-0 in a five-minute stretch early in the second period. Richards started the flurry at 2:04 and ended it 6:51. In-between Haley Mack also had a goal and Nina Rogers had an assist on all three of those goals and a fourth the next period.
Thunstrom and Richards each scored again in the third. Richards' third goal came with 1:54 left.
Abbie Ives made 24 stops for the Whale.
